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The March Meeting Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 3:00 p. m The Thomas E. McMillan Museum THE NEWSLE TTER FOR The Program: Fort Mims: Past, Present, and Future JOURNAL FOR Meet Our Guest Speaker: Claudia Campbell AND Claudia Campbell, Presi- areas including ER, ICU, and THEESCAMBIA CO UNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY dent of the Fort Mims Resto- Recovery. ration Association, writes that Retired three years ago- having been born and raised after 37 years– Claudia now in Tensaw, Alabama, she was finds herself busier than ever the youngest of five children ECHOES being the President of the to Carl and June Slaughter. Fort Mims Restoration Asso- She recalls that her mother ciation. took her to place flowers and “have a service” at Fort Mims Claudia Campbell Claudia was a recent guest at an ECHS meeting to pro- THE NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER THE from early childhood. mote the “Sponsor a Log” Program, a She was “off to Tuscaloosa after high program to help build a blockhouse at school” for further education and the site of the fort, hopefully complet- graduated from UAB with a degree in ing it in time for the 2013 celebrations nursing. She practiced nursing in many honoring the 200th year of the fort. ȍ THE ESCAMBIA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY SOCIETY HISTORICAL COUNTY ESCAMBIA THE Escambia Escambia Fort Mims: The Past Entitled “A Battlefield of the Creek War,” this version of the Fort Mims Massa- cre is from the website <http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortmims1.html>. There is an old saying in the South, "The Good Lord willing and the Creek don't rise." The phrase has nothing to do with running streams, but instead is a flashback to the days of the Creek War of 1813-1814 and, particularly, the Red Stick attack on Fort Mims, Alabama. Note: The phrase comes from a letter Benjamin Hawkins, (Continued on page 2) Contents The May Meeting, May 22, 2012 Fort Mims: The Present 3 Program TBA Fort Mims: The Future 4 Word Search Towns List 4 CONDOLENCES Fort Mims Massacre 5 The Society offers its condolences to Diagram of Fort Mims 6 our president, Tom McMillan, on the The Prophet; Shawnee Hawkins Plan of Civilization 10 loss of his brother, Ed Leigh McMillan. Who Influenced the Red Sticks Snapshots and McMillan Book 12, 13 Ed Leigh, 71, of Brewton died Thurs- Advertisers 14 day, March 29, 2012, after a long ill- Volume 39, Number 4 ness. The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing 15 April 2012 (Continued from page 1) ments around the fringes of the nation. In fact, it United States Indian was an action by the set- Agent to the Creeks of tlers themselves that the southeast, when brought the war to their President Thomas Jeffer- own doorsteps. In July of son wrote and asked him 1813, a rough and tumble to return to Washington. band of territorial militia Fort Mims was a rough a t t a c k e d a log stockade constructed Red Stick supply train at in 1813 around the home Burnt Corn Creek, Ala- of Samuel Mims, an bama. Blood was drawn early settler of Baldwin and the families of the County, Alabama. The killed and wounded Red Sticks swore vengeance powerful Upper Creeks MASSACRE AT FORT MIMS of Central Alabama were on their white neighbors. An 1858 engraving of the massacre at Fort not particularly hostile That vengeance came Mims, an attack on settlers and allied Native towards Mims and his on August 30, 1813, when Americans on August 30, 1813, by the Red neighbors. Many, in fact, Red Stick warriors at- Stick faction of the Creeks. were related to the early tacked a woefully PuBlic outcry sparked the initial military ac- settlers and Creek warri- unprepared Fort Mims. tion against the Creek Nation that would usher ors often traded with and Hundreds of men, women in the Creek War of 1813-14 (the Encyclope- visited Mims and other and children had gone to dia of AlaBama residents of the Tensaw the fort for safety after the <http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/ settlements. debacle at Burnt Corn Article.jsp?id=h-1121>. This "live and let live" Creek. By the time the attitude changed, however, when a civil war broke battle was over, more out in the Creek Nation. On one side were the Red than 250 of them were dead. Sticks, followers of a nativistic religion taught by The Battle of Fort Mims, also known as the Fort the Alabama Prophet Josiah Francis. Mims Massacre, began as the people of the fort were They believed in a return to native ways and a gathering for their noon meal. The main gates of the rejection of white society and culture. Opposing fort were open and there was a general lack of con- them were the principal leaders of the nation, in- cern about the possibility of an attack. Hundreds of cluding the Big Warrior, who lived very much ac- Red Stick warriors, led by the famed Creek warrior cording to the white plan of "civilization" for the William Weatherford, suddenly stormed from the woods surrounding the fort and rushed the open gate Creeks. and walls. The war did not immediately threaten white settle- (Continued on page 3) TENSKWATAWA, THE PROPHET (sketch on page 1, bottom left) “Tenskwatawa (c. 1775-1836), also known as ‘The Prophet,’ was a Shawnee leader who, with his brother, Tecumseh, pushed for Native Americans to adhere to traditional customs and reject white people's ways. The Red Stick faction of the Creeks that carried out the Fort Mims Massacre included followers of Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh.” (Encyclopedia of Alabama). VOLUME 39, APRIL 2012 Page 2 Fort Mims: The Present Part of the Restoration Projects Ongoing at Fort Mims, this is a section of the restored stockade walls. Picture courtesy of Scene inside the stockade walls from one of the yearly re- www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortmims1.html enactments of the battle. Soldiers from Fort Rucker at Fort Mims (left) This visit was train- ing for these future warrant officers on what to do and not do in defense of a site. (Picture cour- tesy of a Mobile Press-Register article for FeBruary 2012) Indian Warrior Reenactor Fort Mims: The Past cont’d (Continued from page 2) ject to some debate. Estimates range from around 250 to more than 550. The same is true of Red Stick losses, esti- The alarm was spread and the men of the fort grabbed mates for which range from around 100 to more than 300. their weapons and rushed to beat back the attack. Major Although the attack on Fort Mims was a retaliatory Daniel Beasley, the commander of the fort, was killed as strike for the white attack on the Red Sticks at Burnt Corn he tried to close the gate. The battle raged throughout the Creek, it was considered an outrage by the people of afternoon. Despite their initial surprise, the occupants of Georgia, Tennessee and the Mississippi Territory. Three the fort fought bravely, as did the Red Stick attackers. Fi- armies soon converged on the Creek Nation and the Red nally, however, Fort Mims was overwhelmed by the fe- Stick forces were finally cornered and defeated by An- rocity of the attackers. drew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend the follow- The exact number of people killed in the attack is sub- ing year. ȍ VOLUME 39, APRIL 2012 Page 3 Fort Mims:The Future Fort Mims Marker The year 2013 will mark the 200th year celebra- tion. The Restoration Association hopes to have the blockhouse, which would be the centerpiece of the stockade, finished in time for the anniver- sary. A Mobile Press-Register article by Kim Lanier relates that a master plan for preservation has been presented to the Fort Mims Preservation Association. These plans could include an amphitheatre and stage outside the stockade as well as an artifact building (Master Plan for Preservation of Fort Mims Site Taking Shape http://blog.al.com/live/2010/08/ master_plan_for_fort_mims_taki.html Escambia County Towns Word Search Remember those old word search puzzles from when you were a kid? Well, they're not just for children! Studies show completing puzzles like word searches can help maintain mental acuity. If you like this one, we’ll find some harder ones. Email or phone us and let us know what you think. XWQPKEEGOSURDYC Towns List VAICVEDIROBERTS Atmore Wawbeek KLELLIVNOXIDAGT Flomaton Riverview ELROBINSONVILLE Brewton EastBrew- EALPYRZIKTKOLBD Damascus ton Dixonville Robinson- BCHGUOLLUCCMORD Teddy ville WEGVGJLEAAWUPEY McCul- Foshee ARVWNDZIHCROOWD lough Hammac WGMHAMMACANOETA Pollard Poarch Canoe Roberts PFFVWEIVREVIROM Nokomis Wallace OFLOMATONPZGONA Keego Sardine ADFCKPNPNOKOMIS RPNLJEEHSOFETHC CNOTWERBTSAEAGU HRKSARDINEFARHS VOLUME 39, APRIL 2012 Page 4 The ECHS Journal Section Fort Mims - Most Brutal Indian Massacre in US History The author of context of the this article is a history of the participant in an period. activity called War Returns “geocaching,” to America described as “a real-world out- The seeds of door treasure Fort Mims were hunting game. sowed right af- Players try to ter the Ameri- locate hidden can Revolution. containers, The Creek Indi- called geo- ans lived in caches, using modern day G P S - e n a b l e d western Georgia devices and then and Alabama. share their ex- The British, the periences Spanish and the online.” This is the description of his experience at French were all trying to influence events in the re- the site in August of 2010. gion and chip away at the new nation's territory. They were also looking for allies should war come Rural Alabama is not a place where you would again.